There is an old saying that “Ignorance is Bliss.” If it is ever true, and I have my doubts, it is certainly not so when it comes to money.
If you want to succeed with money you need to first know and understand money.
Knowledge is Required in All of Life
No matter what area of life we are engaged in we assume and accept that there is a prerequisite amount of knowledge and/or skill required for success. Big task, small task, complex or simple, there is consistently some element of knowledge needed.
Sometimes very little knowledge or skill is needed, but always there is some. Even something that looks as easy as driving a nail requires that you know how to choose the right hammer for the job, hold the hammer properly, and use your arm correctly. Otherwise you will have to pound away for some time where a properly trained carpenter will drive almost every nail with three strokes after tapping it with a slight rap or two to get it started.
It is very strange to me that so many people who accept that they need to learn how to do most everything else, so much so that they will search the internet for information and practice to develop skills in them, will just assume that they can understand and manage their money without doing the same thing.
But the truth is still there. If you want to be successful with your money, you must first learn how to get in control of your money, how to get out of debt, how to increase income and how to save and invest for the future, the very things we teach on our site.
It Takes Time to Learn
It pays to survey all the information about more complicated tasks to get a good overview, but you cannot learn it all at once in a short time frame. It just does not work that way.
Recently I switched from another graphics program for making my images to Photoshop. One of the first things I did was to watch a series of videos on using the program. It helped to give me an orientation to what the program could do, but when I went to use it I still found myself significantly challenged (to put it kindly). I have to practice using each skill and then go back to study each one again in order to get the details of each process down.
That is the way to look at developing skills in money management. In order to achieve a better financial life we have to learn to apply our skills one at a time, each one building on the other. As I emphasize in the Success With Money articles, you have to get in control of your money before you can get out of debt, and so on with other skills. Furthermore, learning control can require several steps for most people.
One reason to remember this is to help you develop patience and persistence. These two attitudes are among the laws of money, you may recall. Becoming successful with your money is not likely to happen overnight. You have to keep learning and moving ahead. At the beginning it is often slow, but success accelerates as you move along.
Get Started and Get Going
It is all too easy to just think about doing something and never do anything about it. This may be true about our financial lives more than anything else.
How many say to themselves that they need to get out of credit card debt but never take the first step toward doing it. How many think about saving up, at least for an emergency fund, but never get started? How many worry about how they will get by in their older years but never make any preparation?
A powerful approach is to repeat the phrase made famous years ago by W. Clement Stone, “Do it now! Do it now! Do it now!” to generate personal motivation. Using this line as an affirmation several times a day related to any task is one way to generate action.
Almost a year ago I used this technique to get myself going with a program to get my dilapidated old body back into shape. For years I knew I needed to do it, but procrastination prevailed. I still have a long way to go because I was so overweight and out of shape but to date I have lost almost 50 pounds and I am making progress with exercise and healthier eating. But the important point is that none of it would have happened if I had not started.
Success with money is a journey not a point in time or a journey. The longer we wait, the harder it becomes. It is important to get started now, and then keep moving steadily toward our predetermined destination.
Learn How, Then Do It
One reason most people never do get out of debt, save money, or invest for their future is that they do not know how and do not even realize it. Consequently they never try to learn how first so that while they may try, the methods they use are doomed to failure. That is the point of this post.
If you are among those making little progress, ask yourself why. If it is because you do not really know how, start reading right here on the Success With Money site. Learn how first, then start moving ahead toward your own success.
